All-State in 3 events
Last November the Tigers set school records in points and team ranking at the Class AA state swimming and diving meet, totaling 43 points and finishing 17th in a field of 39.
Last weekend at the 2011 state meet, coach Jen Marshall's six entrants raised the standard even higher, racking up 72 team points and placing 13th among the 34 teams scoring.
Individually, the news was equally impressive. Kaitlyn O'Reilly, an all-state performer in the 100 backstroke last fall, led the way by earning all-state honors in three events.
All-stater Zoe Avestruz warms up before
swim-off for 8th place in 50 freestyle
Zoe Avestruz made all-state in the 50 freestyle and she and O'Reilly were joined by Kirsten Kracke and Abby Haugen in an all-state effort in the 200 medley relay.
O'Reilly finished eighth in the 100 backstroke last year and this year moved up five slots to place third in 57.18. The finishing time tied her own school record set at last week's Section 1AA Championships.
In the 100 backstroke the fleet sophomore ranked seventh. O'Reilly's 2:06.37 time in the prelims set a new school record.
Freshman Avestruz scored points in two individual events at state, finishing eighth in the 50 freestyle and 16th in the 100 butterfly. She clocked a school-record 24.33 in the preliminaries.
The 200 medley relay foursome became the first-ever Farmington relay team to earn all-state honors, placing seventh in 1:49.20, just slightly above the 1:48.84 school mark it set in the prelims.
200 medley relay team on the awards podium
The other Tiger relay entrant, the 400 freestyle quartet of O'Reilly, Avestruz, Kracke and Cora Ruzicka scored 13th place points with a 3:38.79 finishing time.
"We had the best state preliminaries in the history of the program," Marshall said. "The girls swam faster than they did at sections and broke some records they had just set the week before.
"I am so proud of this group of girls and what they have accomplished in and out of the water this year. They were great representatives of Lady Tiger swimming and diving with all of the hard work and dedication they put in."
